A storm chased climbs into his damaged car to retrieve equipment after a canopy collapsed on top of it in Panama City, Fla (Picture: EPA)

Despite repeated warnings to evacuate, this walker decided to go and take photos of the rough seas at Fort Walton Beach in Florida as Hurricane Michael arrived (Picture: AP)‘And they haven’t seen that, maybe they haven’t seen that at all. Nobody’s seen that before.’

Emergency services have told those who chose to stay behind that it is now too late to escape safely – and warned the same bad weather is likely to impede EMTs called out to emergencies.

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Forecasters have predicted that the worst of the weather will have subsided by 6pm EST.

Category 4 hurricanes – the second most severe type on the scale – bring winds of up to 156mph, catastrophic damage to anything in their path, as well as power outages for weeks afterwards.